50mW green, how worried should I be?

[Thinkcat]

Hello

I got to try out an 50mW green laser, purchased from buywithcoins.com

I have read about laser safety and everything, but I wonder if I got over excited. Pointing it downwards at a white wallpaper, it was not too uncomfortable from some 5ft distance. Pointing it under the leaves of a small plant lit the whole plant up in a funny way. I also tried pointing it through windows, but always downward and below eye level.

What I find odd is that, even though I not once hit my eyes directly with the beam, my left eye feels a bit sensitive, and I had a slight headache a moment ago.

I also did a few quick sweeps at some glassware (wineglasses in a cupboard) to see the beam "dance" on all the glasses. Of course this way it is possible to cause specular reflections in every direction.

But generally, can a 50mW green beam hit your eye and hurt you without you really being aware of the beam coming at you or you "seeing" it?

 

[Ignis Fatuus]

Yes. You should not be playing with it in the house. Just because you cant see the beam refection doesnt mean its not there. There is IR being reflected too, which you wont see either. Grab some goggles for indoor use.

 

[Mohrenberg]

Most likely your eyes are just strained from playing with it too much. You really need some goggles to reduce the strain on your eyes.
I remember that feeling when i first started playing with lasers. The dot itself is so intense it will strain your eyes and give you a headache after playing with it for too long. The 1W 445 has a habit of doing that in just a matter of minutes.

just give it a rest and you'll be good to go in the morning. I
personally use goggles for burning just so i can be close to the dot without straining my eyes and giving myself a headache. I'm careful enough i've never been hit in the eye, and i know where the dots going to end up before i turn the laser on to avoid reflections.

i wouldn't knwo from experience, but i'm pretty sure people notice it when a laser damages their eye. I think it's suppose to be quite painful, but i can't recall off the top of my head. I try to avoid self inflicted injuries ....nobody to sue.....

 

[Thinkcat]

Ok. My problem is, I have been nervous about my eyes before this, but not because of lasers. One thing I must tell everyone though.

Almost every morning I wake up and open my eyes, I see, for a second, a network of black lines extending from the center of my field of vision. The lines persist for a second or two, then disappear. I can intentionally make them reappear a couple of times by blinking. After this they are gone, and I have never seen them during the day or after any naps.

This morning (being in Europe, I've slept a night since my first post) there were a couple of straight lines. I don't know how much my expectations or my imagination "help" these lines to appear. Always before this they have somehow resembled blood vessels, i.e. they've been curvy and maybe branched here and there. But this morning I saw a disconnected pattern with some straight lines, resembling the asterisk * sign. The lines are of average thickness and there is maybe 10 to 20 of them at any given time.

I can't tell if the pattern changes somehow after I have blinked.

I write this just to ask if anyone else has ever experienced anything similar. My first encounter with dangerous laser radiation was yesterday. Seeing these lines has come and gone for maybe four to five years now, but this was the first time I remember having seen straight lines. But my expectations might be at play here, because after last night I nervously expected to see straight lines.

 

[Ignis Fatuus]

Sounds like a detached retina. You're brain will always try to fill in gaps in your vision. Thats why they come and go.

We are not doctors. Only a doctor can tell you what its, and how to fix it.

 

[Thinkcat]

I was to a doctor, about an year ago, for this exact reason. The examination involved dilating the pupils and looking into the eye. But there were no findings and the doctor told me not to worry too much.

I am seriously nearsighted and use eyeglasses for this reason. As far as I know, it is common for nearsighted eyes that the gel filling the inside of the eye will eventually harden and separate from the retina. The pressure inside my eyes was also normal. No follow-up was discussed.